Covenant
by ChronicallyChill
Summary: He wasn't what she was expecting but when the lightning and smoke cleared both of their lives changed forever when he appeared in the center of her summoning seal. A witch/familiar AU Warning: as always ShiItaIzu makes an appearance; Kakashi-Shizune in a casual sort of relationship, not an actual romantic pairing but heads up in case it's not your thing
1. UmThat's A Hawk

**Disclaimer** _ **:**_ **This story will utilize characters and situations that are the copyright of Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, and Viz Media. ChronicallyChill is in no way associated with the creator or producers of Naruto and no copyright infringement is intended. Obviously this is a fanfic meant solely for the entertainment of the fanfic author and (hopefully) it's readers.**

* * *

She had wanted a cat.

Sister Shizune had a charming familiar with sleek gray fur. A relaxed creature that was lackadaisical in all its forms.

But when the lightning and smoke cleared there was a haughty screech and the flapping of wings.

A pissed off hawk cried at her from the center of her summoning circle.

She had wanted a cat.

* * *

It had been seven days and the summoned hawk had yet to speak to her. She had to assume it was male due to its size, sure that if it were bigger than it would have been a female like the book on hawks she had bought stated. But she couldn't be sure until it actually spoke to her and told her how it identified.

But it had been days and the hawk refused to communicate with her.

When she had first summoned the hawk it had taken flight as soon as all the smoke had cleared and it had become aware of the seal it stood in the center of. She could only gape at the empty space as Shizune tried to rub her back to comfort her.

Kakashi, Shizune's familiar, had snickered and had only stopped when Tsunade, the eldest of their coven, shot him a glare.

"They will come back to you," Tsunade informed her. "They are bound by the summon."

"But they obviously don't want to be my familiar…"

Sakura shuffled in her boots, her ceremonial robes feeling heavier than when she had first put it on.

Tsunade had said that young witches needed a familiar, that they weren't pets but companions that protected them as they came into their own and learned the ways of magic.

Tsunade had told her that she had more control of her powers than what was usual for young witches, but that it was safer to go through all of the proper rituals. A familiar would help assist her as she honed her magical gifts as she matured as a witch.

But the summoning ritual didn't go well.

She refused to accept that the summoned creature picking at its feathers by her opened bedroom window was her match.

The hawk caught her staring at it and turned its beak up at her, shuffling on its perch so that its back was to her.

 _Do what you will, so long as it harms none. Do what you will, so long as it harms none…_

Sakura chanted the Rede in her head and tried to focus on her studies. She knew she drew her circle perfectly and Tsunade had examined the sigils for any flaws but there was no way the haughty creature before her was what her energy had called to across all of the realms.

"You're going to need to talk to me eventually you know," Sakura huffed, flipping through the pages of her tome before slamming it shut. "You won't be getting your true form back until we complete the covenant. At least that's what the High Priestess said."

The hawk continued to look outside the window. Sakura rolled her eyes and grabbed another tome.

"You're not trapped in here. You can go whenever you want."

The hawk finally turned its head towards her. It cocked its head to the side.

"I mean yeah you have to come back because our lives are each others technically."

The hawk turned its head away with a scoff, the first sound it made since it was forced back to her.

"But we're both dealing with only half of our magic until we complete the covenant. So if you would like to have all of your power back━whatever power you have━I suggest you get talking."

The hawk gave her another look before spreading its wings and taking flight.

Sakura grabbed one of the throw pillows from her bed and screamed into it.

* * *

Sakura stared blankly at the trains going by. After school she would usually head over to lessons but without access to half of her magic she wasn't allowed to strain herself with incantations.

She loved helping out Shizune but she was getting tired of only being able to brew potions.

Sakura whipped out her guide on magical remedies to common illnesses and began studying. Magic or no magic she still needed to prepare for her practical exam. Even with only half of her magic she was sure she had enough control to pass her next exam.

The sound of a bell went off signaling the arrival of a train on her platform. Without looking up from her book she got up from her bench and walked slowly over to the train.

"That's a sure way to get us both killed," a husky voice called out from behind her as something tugged on the back off her wool cardigan.

Sakura spun around and looked up to be met with classic Japanese features. Her jaw dropped as the beautiful face before her contorted itself into a scowl.

"Is staring all you do? Are you sure you're a witch? You act like a mundane with all of your staring."

"You do know it's not every day that someone wears a kimono in the middle of a subway platform."

Sakura eyed the dark blue kimono with the pattern of silver feathers etched into the fabric. The outfit was eye catching yet the man━no teenage boy for he couldn't be that much older than her━stood there confident, completely indifferent to any attention he could be attracting.

"Wait! Did you say witch?"

Out in the realm of the mundane, a stranger shouldn't have been able to recognize her as a witch.

"Isn't that what you are? A mundane wouldn't have been able to summon any sort of familiar, let alone an Uchiha."

Sakura's eyes roamed the boy before her, mouth still parted in shock. This was the hawk that she had summoned!?

"Which one of these things do we need to board to get back to your place?"

"So you do know English?" Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "I was trying to use every language I knew, waiting for you to respond to me and you didn't say anything.

The boy ignored her and looked at the board for arrival times. He headed toward the train that was approaching and Sakura followed him hesitantly. She wasn't quite sure of what to make of this boy.

"I also know Mandarin and understood all of the colorful words you called me."

* * *

Sasuke was in no rush to have all of his power returned to him.

Sakura peeked over the top of her book on rune translations and watched him pour over her books while lying flat on his back on the ground.

Kakashi had loaned him some sweats and muscle tanks that had Sakura's face heating up as she buried her nose back into her books.

She didn't expect for her familiar to be as attractive as he was in his human form. Her only experience with familiars were Tsunade's familiar Katsuyu that only had a slug form though it varied in sizes and Shizune's familiar Kakashi who she could consider good looking but he was almost two decades older than she was and not her type in the slightest.

She found herself wishing that Sasuke would go back to using his hawk form.

From what Sasuke had told her he was almost an entire year older than she was and was in the middle of preparing for an event that was important to his family when he was kidnapped.

" _I didn't kidnap you!"_

" _Right. You_ summoned _me."_

He spoke to her very little, only asking for more tomes to pour over as he looked for whatever information he was searching for and interrupting her whenever he couldn't find anything in her fridge that suited his tastes or skill level in cooking.

"Ah."

Sakura jumped not having expected Sasuke to say anything or make a sound.

"I found nothing. Your human texts are too limited. As soon as my family receives my message we can figure out how to correct this problem."

"Problem? We just need to proceed with making the covenant and everything will be fixed and we'll have our power back."

Sasuke sat up and stared at her impassively. The longer he stared at her the more uncomfortable she felt.

"I will never be some witch's pet."

* * *

All Sasuke had wanted was silence but now that the witch wasn't talking anymore he felt mild irritation at the fact.

She went about her day ignoring him, refusing to acknowledge his presence. She had become cold towards him ever since he told her that he refused to become her familiar.

It didn't matter to him how she behaved as long as she stayed away from him. He wanted nothing to do with cunning witches, especially if their power level was high enough to summon a member of the Uchiha clan as their familiar.

Members of the Uchiha clan becoming familiars was an anomaly. It was rare for a witch to be equals with an Uchiha and for one to be summoned was extremely uncommon.

It had happened two times before him in his lifetime━before that it had been half a century━and the instances of someone being summoned were that of one of his distant cousins, Shisui, by a witch who just so happened to also carry their blood in her veins and then his older brother who was so strong that he was summoned when he was but a child by a warlock many years his senior.

At the time it had been an honor.

Now it was the reason why Sasuke watched the little witch with distrustful eyes.

Itachi was now happy in a covenant with Shisui and their witch Izumi but it didn't change the fact that he was damaged and an eyesore to most of the Uchiha.

Sasuke was sure most wished that Itachi had died when his warlock betrayed him and sullied their covenant.

He could just imagine the shame in his father's face to discover that his second son had also been summoned and right in the middle of hanami.

"She's not going to bite you," Kakashi, the cat familiar of the dark haired witch, told him from behind an orange covered novel. "Unless you're into that thing. She might if you ask nicely."

"What?" Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed, not sure why he would ever want the little witch to bite him.

"Oh boy. You're one of those sheltered tengu from one of those noble houses, huh?"

Sasuke remained silent. Beyond his first name he hadn't shared much information about himself with the witches or their familiars. They didn't know his family name so they couldn't trace him back to the Uchiha.

There was no need to give them any more reason to hold him hostage.

"How long have you been with your witch?"

"Since I was sixteen. Witches call to their familiars when they turn of age. You met your witch on her seventeenth birthday."

"She's _not_ my witch," Sasuke grumbled.

He eyed the little witch as she sorted through ingredients. Her long, bright rose gold locks were pulled away from her face as she set to work. She worked her bottom lip between her teeth as she concentrated.

"Technically she is. You gave her your name."

"What."

"You really don't know anything about witches and covenants, do you?"

Kakashi sighed and pulled out a tome from a shelf behind him.

"You were so busy trying to find a way back home you never bothered to look at the texts that detailed the relationship between witches and their familiars."

Kakashi stretched his limbs and began to shift into his cat form. He yawned, popping his jaw.

"You ever wonder why she hasn't given you her name yet? It's because she refuses to enter the covenant without your consent. Read you sheltered _bocchama_."

* * *

She was annoying.

The little witch had a bad habit of staying up late to study. Sasuke would find her cuddling with a tome and surrounded by scrolls.

"Mess," Sasuke mumbled and collected the scrolls and put them where they belonged in her room. As carefully as he could he pried the tome from her arms and set it down on her desk.

He caught himself in the middle of pulling up her quilt and ran a hand down his face.

 _This isn't happening._

Sasuke went back to the futon couch on the other side of the room and turned his back on the little witch. He pulled up the blanket she had provided and willed himself to sleep.

* * *

It was another few days before the little witch spoke to him directly again.

"You're going to need to stay with Shizune and Kakashi starting tomorrow."

She rocked back and forth on her heels and pulled at a lock of her hair.

"You're kicking me out?"

"I'm not kicking you out!"

Her cheeks flushed red and she opened her mouth to shout again but seemed to decide against it when her mouth closed again. She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath before speaking again.

"My parents are coming back from their trip to China tomorrow night and you can't be here. It would have been different if you were my familiar but for now you're just a random boy. I don't want my mom thinking I was shacking up with you while they were away."

And that was how he ended up at the home Shizune and her familiar shared with the High Priestess Tsunade.

It irritated him that the High Priestess had been called to fulfill her duties in the coven led by her husband when he needed her assistance to break from the chains of the summon.

"Were you fighting with stray cats again?"

Sasuke stopped right in front of the doorway of the kitchen. He was trying to avoid any run ins with the witch and Kakashi. He didn't want anyone trying to convince him to accept the covenant.

"Hold still while I disinfect it."

"Why don't you just lick it better? And lick _other_ things while you're at it…"

Sasuke fled as quickly as he could.

* * *

Sakura was in the middle of changing into her sleepwear when her window was yanked open.

"Do you mind!?"

Sakura flung her discarded shirt at Sasuke's face and she yanked down the baggy shirt she was putting on. She just hoped he hadn't seen anything while breaking in.

The red tint to his ears wasn't promising.

"You didn't tell me that Kakashi and his witch were involved."

"She has a name you know," Sakura muttered. "You call that moron by his name but you won't even offer the same respect to Shizune."

"You didn't tell me Kakashi and _Shizune-san_ were involved."

"I thought they would hold back while you were around. Those two...I swear it's like they're always in heat."

"Do witches always take advantage of their familiars?"

"Will you quit making us sound so evil!" Sakura huffed, marching right up to him. "I'll have you know that they have a very balanced partnership. What they choose to do as two consenting adults is none of our business."

Sakura crossed her arms in front of her chest and drew inward on herself.

"Not all witches and familiars have relationships like that. Lady Tsunade's familiar is very motherly with her. Kakashi and Shizune are the kind that don't like relationships but still have needs they like to attend to and they trust each other. My dad and his familiar...they're like brothers."

"Your father has a familiar?"

"Yeah you'll see him as a mouse sometimes but don't let that fool you. He just can't go around parading as whatever. He's a púca. You would think it were quite fitting if you ever met my father."

"So your father is a warlock?"

"Uh, yeah? How else did you think I ended up being a witch?"

From the look on his face it was apparent that he hadn't thought of her at all. That shouldn't have hurt as much as it did considering the fact that she knew he didn't want to enter a covenant with her but it did.

"You can sleep here tonight but don't let my parents see you."

* * *

He shouldn't have been shocked by the puce colored hair. Sasuke knew the little witch's hair was naturally the shade it was because of he pale pink of her lashes so genetically they had to have come from _somewhere_ but he wasn't completely ready for the puce colored spikes that belonged to who he could only assume was her father.

"A tengu!" The man cheered, pounding a fist into his hand at his discovery. "Your markings are amazing."

Sasuke stood there frozen as the man rubbed his shoulder blades where the markings of his wings began. In his human form they were nothing but an imprint on his back.

"What's with all of the racket?"

The little witch came out of her room rubbing her eye with the heel of her palm. Sasuke cursed her decision to sleep pantsless as he felt her father's strong hand on his bare back.

"Good morning Sa━!"

"No!" The little witch shrieked waving her hands in front of her, signaling to her father to stop. "You can't tell him my name."

"Okay, my blossom." Kizashi frowned. "What's going on? It's been two weeks since your birthday."

 _Blossom?_

Sasuke looked over at the stammering witch. She was explaining everything that had happened so he blocked out her words, not interested in reliving the past two weeks through her story. Instead his eyes roamed over the strands of her hair.

Her hair was a pale pink, like a certain flower that his family celebrated around this time of the year.

Remembering that he was kidnapped during such an important holiday, Sasuke turned and walked away from the witch and her warlock father.

* * *

Her father insisted on giving Sasuke some privacy.

"Tengu are very traditional. I'm surprised he didn't kick you out of your own room," he had joked.

Sakura and Sasuke watched as her father drew a door on the wall and a seal on it. Sakura had her notebook out taking notes on everything her father was doing.

"An expansion spell isn't that difficult for me on my own but it does need to be modified so that it's hidden from the outside. Can't have mundanes wondering when we built an addition," he explained as he adjusted the sigils. "It will also help Sasuke come and go as he pleases if no one can see where he's coming from. And it's for that exact reason I'm going to need Llewelyn's help."

A black furred mouse scampered off of Kizashi's shoulder and down his leg. It shifted into the form of a young dark haired boy although the snout, ears, and tail of a mouse remained.

"Ready when you are," Llewelyn squeaked.

Kizashi bit his thumb hard enough until it drew blood and Llewelyn mirrored his actions. They placed a drop of their blood in the center of the seal and the chalk drawing door glowed.

Kizashi muttered an incantation and within seconds the wall stopped glowing and where the chalk drawing had been previously now stood a door that looked exactly like the rest in the house.

"Usually this would take a lot more out of me and would be difficult to do for one witch or warlock but with the assistance of a shapeshifter like a púca these kinds of spells are a lot easier to pull off."

Llewelyn placed his hands on his hips and looked proud of himself.

"Does it have to be a shapeshifter familiar for these kinds of spells?" Sakura questioned.

Sasuke snorted and she shot him a quick glare. He had mentioned her habit of overworking herself but she ignored him. She wanted to learn.

"Any familiar can assist with these just fine but due to Llewelyn being a púca it makes it so my control doesn't have to be as perfect as another witch's would have to be."

"It's the lazy man's way out," Llewelyn joked as he shifted back into his mouse form.

"I would say to just ask Blossom here to help you modify anything but in her state she might damage the illusion keeping the room hidden."

"I'm not that hopeless!" Sakura scowled, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Yes but let's not risk it until Lady Tsunade gets back and figures out how to cut the summon."

"You don't know anything about it?"

Sakura would have been annoyed with Sasuke's questioning if it weren't for the fact he seemed genuinely curious.

"Hmm," Kizashi hummed, brows drawn down in a frown, "there's only one way I've ever known and I would rather avoid it."

"What is it?"

"Death."

* * *

Sasuke stared out of his new bedroom window, feeling more frustrated than he had earlier.

Whenever he was in that sort of mood he would soar through the sky and relax as the wind rustled his hair and feathers.

But he wasn't able to turn to his true form and he knew shifting to a hawk wouldn't be give him the same feeling.

He had suspected that death would be the only way out of his predicament but the thought of ending the little witch's life in exchange for his freedom was distasteful.

As much as he hated the idea of being tied to her forever because of a magical chaining of their souls, he hated the idea of sacrificing someone that was still technically an innocent.

It wasn't until after that thought settled that he remembered that he would be risking his own life if she died.

"Dad wanted to make your room look more like home for you but mom freaked out because it's troublesome to clean tatami."

The little witch walked in with sheets for the bed Kizashi had transfigured from a bundle of twigs that he had found in the yard.

"This is fine."

There was nothing with the western style room. He actually had a western style bedroom back home and it was quite comfortable especially now that he was on a real bed.

But those were little things about him that he wasn't willing to share. He didn't want to know the little witch or for her to know him.

At least that's what he kept telling himself.

"Can't you just summon another familiar?" Sasuke asked her before she could leave. "Wouldn't that cancel out the summoning with me?"

"Uh, no."

The little witch averted her gaze and made herself busy fitting the sheets on his matress.

"Is it because you don't have access to the rest of your magic?"

"I know Kakashi gave you a book on summoning and familiars. Do you have to ask me these questions?"

Sasuke was thrown off by her new demeanor. She had ignored him before but now she was actually putting up a guard.

"I want to hear it from you. Why didn't you have your High Priestess assist you in getting a new familiar? I don't mean to sound arrogant but you would have to be a particularly strong witch to have summoned me. You could have any familiar you wanted probably."

The little witch stood up and kept her gaze averted. Her cheeks had flushed to a delicate shade of red.

"It's not a choice. I didn't _choose_ you." she wrung her hands in front of her. "We were supposed to be meant for each other. You were supposed to━"

She cut herself off and took a deep breath.

"It's not important."

"Apparently it is if you're reacting like this."

Sasuke moved from the bench by the window and approached her.

"It bothers you that I don't want to be your summon. Specifically that it's me."

"Wouldn't you see it as a rejection?" The little witch narrowed her eyes at him. They glistened with unshed tears. It had only been two weeks but he knew how emotional she got.

 _A person that cries when frustrated. What an annoying new experience._

"I thought I was prepared for a familiar to find me unworthy of them. Reality hurts a lot more."

That explanation wasn't expected. Sasuke had assumed all witches were arrogant, that they had to be to summon creatures to submit to them.

"I'm a half-breed. I thought I would get a low tier familiar because of that. I didn't expect _you_ to show up. I didn't kidnap you. I just wanted a partner and to finally feel like I was a real witch."

That was something Sasuke could understand now that she let her feelings on the matter known.

He was a tengu but he was unlike the other tengu in his clan. They all took the form of crows excluding his mother. They both took the form of hawks and for that fact alone there were members of his clan that were wary of them.

"You are a real witch."

The little witch's eyes went wide and he turned his face away in embarrassment.

"You summoned me. You would have to be a real witch."

* * *

Sasuke stared at the tome sitting on his bed and frowned.

He still hadn't opened the book that Kakashi had loaned him. He was avoiding everything that had to do with witches and familiars and hadn't considered opening the text even if it gave him the chance to find information on breaking a summon.

He sighed and laid back on the bed bringing the tome up with him.

It wouldn't hurt to do some light reading.

* * *

Sasuke let out a yawn and immediately sobered up. His mother would have smacked him on his head with her uchiwa if she saw him yawning at the breakfast table.

He had stayed up the night before reading and he felt a little awkward because it was a habit of the little witch's and there was a section about familiars and witches adopting quirks from each other.

"Here you go Llewelyn."

Mebuki, the mundane mother of the little witch, offered the púca pumpkin and cream cheese pancakes. The little familiar was fond of sweet foods and sometimes she would treat him but often she would scold him and force him to eat all of the healthier food she made.

"Here you go Sasuke," Mebuki placed a plate with egg and cheese stuffed tomatoes.

Sasuke put his hands together and said his thanks for the meal. It wasn't something he would usually eat for breakfast but he appreciated the fact that it had been made with him in mind after it was discovered that he favored the fruit.

He was sure it was the little witch that had informed her mother. She was the one that had to pick up a bushel of them when they were alone in the house.

"Yinghuā?" Mebuki called to her daughter who was rushing around the kitchen table collecting her things for school. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I'm running late. I forgot that I had to stop by my math teacher's classroom before class started."

Sasuke reached out and grabbed the sleeve of her cardigan hoodie. The little witch's eyebrows rose up in shock but she accepted the yellow and red apple that he placed in her hand.

She tended to skip meals when she was busy but she always grabbed an apple.

* * *

Sasuke pulled on his new pair of jeans and the pullover that Mebuki had picked up for him. She also purchased a fare card so that he could travel around in the mundane way.

"There you go. Just an average teenage boy." She pinched his cheek gently and chuckled. "Well not actually average. Far too pretty to say you're average."

Heat rose up Sasuke's neck and he turned away. He heard Mebuki giggle and continue to tease him as she went back to tending to her chores.

Minus the wrinkles around her eyes, the jade of them lit up the same way his little witch's eyes did when she was finally able to translate her runes properly.

* * *

"Message for you."

Kakashi dropped the scroll from his mouth and curled up on one of Sasuke's pillows. Sasuke swatted at him until he moved to the edge of the bed and then unrolled the scroll.

"Shisui and Izumi are coming to visit."

"Your family?"

Sasuke thought about the role they had in his older brother Itachi's life and nodded.

They saved his brother's life. They would always be family.

* * *

Sasuke was in the middle of meditation when there was a soft knock on his door. He waited a moment to see if the person was insistent on needing his attention before granting them permission to enter.

"Come in," he called out after the second knock.

The little witch poked her head in and averted her gaze. She hesitantly came all the way inside, hiding something behind her back.

Sasuke raised a brow at her expectantly and she pulled her arms from behind her back.

"Do you know arithmancy? I don't think I'm reading this chart correctly."

"Yes. it's a subject my mother thought important to teach me."

"Really?" she squealed in excitement. "Are you good at it? I'm pretty good at memorization but sometimes I screw up with runes because I'm not very good at reading traditional glyphs."

"Aa."

Sasuke took her charts from her hand and got to reading them. The witch sat on his bed, close enough to press her shoulder against his.

He explained to her where she had messed up in her charts and redrew them for her. He made sure to keep everything as simple as possible so that she would understand.

 _Funny._

He never expected a random skill his mother told him could be useful one day to actually serve a purpose in his life.

* * *

Levitation was something she could do without any focus. She had been doing it ever since she was a toddler without the need for any incantations or potions.

"You don't need to float when you meditate."

"I don't but it's just something that comes naturally to me. It kind of helps."

Sasuke sighed out his nose and closed his eyes. Sakura smiled softly at his serene expression. It was nice to be able to be close enough to see it.

Sakura held back from giggling when she came to a realization that she couldn't come to before when things were tense between them.

She had always wanted to have the ability to fly and her summoned familiar happened to have wings.

* * *

"You're a disaster."

The little witch scowled at him from her position in his arms. He smirked down at her as she rambled off about how his help wasn't needed but that she appreciated it anyway.

She was busy levitating some vials from the shelves to speed up her tasks of organizing all of the ingredients and reshelving all of the scrolls that she hadn't noticed that she herself was levitating in the direction of a bubbling cauldron.

"You're doing too much at once," he reprimanded her. "I'll take care of the scrolls."

"Thank you."

Sasuke was just about done with putting away the scrolls in the proper order when Kakashi in his cat form slinked over from his place amongst the cushions in the corner of Shizune's workspace.

"Having fun?"

"Who has fun doing chores?"

"Familiars that enjoy being helpful to their witches."

Sasuke almost dropped the remaining scrolls in his arms at the statement.

"That's not what this is."

"Oh? Alright then. Boys that like helping out cute girls."

"It's not that either!" Sasuke denied, his neck warming up.

Sasuke plucked Kakashi up by the scruff of his neck and tossed him out the second story window.

* * *

He was getting too comfortable.

Izumi and Shisui were expected to arrive in a few days and with their arrival they would have an answer to his question of how to break a familiar summoning.

He hoped they would have the answer considering they were able to form a new covenant with a second familiar. It was a rare occurrence but it was done to save his dying older brother.

They weren't there when Itachi's covenant was broken but it felt insensitive to ask his brother about it.

Even in the text that he had borrowed from Kakashi there was nothing about breaking a covenant. The only mention was that the breaking of a covenant by either party was a vile act.

Sasuke could only think about how his brother was a wingless tengu and wonder what it was exactly that the warlock that summoned Itachi had done.

The more time he spent with the little witch he couldn't imagine her doing anything that cruel.

She was sweet and at times even her temper was amusing. She was kind to him even when he was standoffish.

He didn't mind when she invaded his space and spoke to him.

Sasuke was starting to enjoy his time in the mundane realm with her and her family.

He was getting comfortable.

But it was getting hard to think of that as a bad thing.

* * *

Sakura was happy for him, she really was.

If it had been the other way around she would have been ecstatic if her family visited her.

But it wasn't just a visit. They were here to take him back home.

Izumi was able to harness a lot of power to create a portal between the mundane realm and the one they called home. Tengu had immense power and the connection she shared with her familiar Shisui was a strong one.

She had never seen such a large spell done before, especially not one performed by a single witch.

It was still weird that it was all happening in the middle of Tsunade's living room, especially since she still wasn't back home.

"It's not just Shisui and I. Itachi isn't here with us physically but we can still feel our connection to him," Izumi explained. "The stronger the bond, the bigger the magic."

"So the summon should break when Sasuke returns home?"

"It should." Shisui smiled gently at her. "It works like you're returning him by letting him go. He should be able to stay there as long as you don't attempt to summon a familiar again. Then he'll just end up back here. So unfortunately you will just have to go without one."

"So this is technically goodbye then," she muttered. She turned sad eyes to Sasuke who stood in front of her impassively.

Sakura was starting to get use to seeing him around.

It was odd how close she felt to him when he had never even uttered her name the entire time he stayed with her and her family.

And now he was leaving without knowing it.

Sakura cleared her throat and strengthened her resolve. She wasn't going to being crying the last time she saw him.

"I wish you luck with everything."

Sakura stuck out her hand, offering it to him to take. He raised a brow at her and she swore she saw the corners of his lips twitch upwards.

"I'll see you soon."

Sakura's eyes went wide when he smiled softly at her and used his pointer and middle finger to poke her in the center of her forehead. It was such a random gesture that she couldn't help the heat rising to her cheeks. She wasn't prepared for it at all.

 _See me...soon?_

Nor was she prepared for what he said next.

"Sakura."

* * *

 **Day's Notes:** hello! Readers of my other works are probably a little fed up with all of the new AUs but I really liked this idea and wanted to share it with everyone else.

Originally Covenant was going to be a series of connected one-shots that I only posted on tumblr (pain-somnia) but I have decided to share it on FF and AO3 as well because how much people seemed to enjoy it on tumblr.

The rest of the "chapters" to this series will probably not be as long as this first part but hopefully you all enjoy them as much you enjoy this first chapter.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this AU as much as I have.


	2. Home

**Part Two**

By the time Sasuke had come back home, the sakura petals on the ground had withered and curled in on themselves, the edges tinted brown. If it weren't for the fact that the scattering of petals was an annual occurrence and had seen them in their original color he would never assumed they came from pink flowers.

Sasuke laid back on the engawa and closed his eyes. The breeze rustled his hair gently and played through the chimes that his mother hung around the patio. A harris hawk cooed softly by his head.

His days were quiet, peaceful.

And utterly boring.

When he had first come home his mother had fussed over him and his father did that awkward thing where he looked at him, opened his mouth and then closed it, nodded his head and then walked away.

There had been a lot of unwanted attention. The elders of the clan were in an uproar about his summoning.

" _Something must be wrong within the family for it to happen_ twice _. The younger one replaced the eldest as heir just to get dragged across the realms by a word weaver!"_

Word weaver is what they called her. When Sasuke was younger he imagined witches using giant tapestry needles to enchant objects and cast their spells whenever there was a mention of one.

Sasuke had been curious as all kids were and wanted to ask his older brother all of his questions regarding witches but Itachi never had time for him. He was always with his witch and barely popped home for a visit before he was off again.

No one could imagine that the eldest son was so blind in his devotion to his witch that he would forsake his own family. That Itachi wouldn't be able to recognize the loss of his freedom.

" _Pitiful. All of that loyalty only to have his wings ripped off and abandoned, left for dead."_

Sasuke sighed, inhaling the sweet scent from his mother's garden and the trees. The calming scents of home helped him ease his mind.

"Mother will get angry if she catches you napping outside again."

Sasuke cracked an eye open. Itachi stood above him, long strands of his hair falling over his shoulder.

"You're not still feeling lethargic are you? It's been a few days since your full power has come back."

Sasuke had assumed that he would feel energetic once his power was returned to him but instead he was thrown off of his axis and the swift increase in power had left him tired because it had been returned all at once.

 _And it doesn't help that what I'm feeling isn't just my own chakra_.

Sasuke had fulfilled his part of the covenant by calling Sakura by her name. The surge of power he felt was immense.

 _This is me_ , Sasuke focused on sensing his own chakra, _and it's Sakura as well_.

Witches didn't call it chakra. Izumi had explained that the word they used was mana and that now that he was part of a covenant he shared his power with the witch that summoned him but in a properly balanced covenant he would feel his witch's power as well.

Sakura was unguarded and open with him in their bond even if she didn't express it to him verbally. She gave as much of herself as what was expected of him. Heat would crawl up his neck to his face when he thought too hard about how easily she trusted him with her energy.

She was leaving herself bare to him.

"I'm fine now. It's just relaxing here."

And it was. Although there was influence of the mundane on their realm because of travelers between the two and witches that migrated to live with their familiars in their world, it was a lot more quiet then the buzz of the mundane realm.

Sakura lived in a crowded city with lots of noise and smells and lights. Home for Sasuke was the quiet of the countryside, of the mountainous range where the Uchiha had always lived. The air was crisp and clean and he could soar the skies as he pleased.

But home was missing something.

* * *

"You need to stop hiding from mother."

Sasuke sighed and looked below him from his perch on a tree. Itachi was at the base of the tree smiling up at him in the way he hated. It was like his brother knew what was on his mind.

It wasn't that Sasuke didn't want to be around his mother. He usually spent a majority of his time at home with her but Shisui had let a comment slip when he came back home that had his mother asking him questions about his time in the realm of the mundane he would prefer not to discuss.

" _Everyone was so worried when you were nowhere to be found," Mikoto rambled on as she gave her son another check. She spread her fingers along his markings, examining for any disturbances or scars._

 _Sasuke endured it all, knowing it was best to let her have a moment to check his wings than to deal with her moodiness or shrewd comments from his clan's elders._

" _And you missed hanami this year!"_

" _Oh, I wouldn't say he did," Shisui snickered, sneaking one of the snacks that Mikoto had prepared for Sasuke. "Sasuke had his own personal hanami."_

 _The back of Sasuke's neck heated up and his ears flushed red. His mother had taken notice of that and she got a strange glint in her eye._

" _What does that mean Sasuke?" Mikoto gripped his shoulders to impeded his possible escape. "The region you were in doesn't celebrate hanami. At least it's not part of the culture of the mundane in that region."_

Sasuke could kill Shisui for the comments he made. He was always ready to please Sasuke's mother and answered her questions as best as she could.

" _Pink hair. And named_ Sakura _of all things."_

Mikoto's eyes had widened in wonder and Sasuke was quick to make an escape. He knew his mother would want to know the identity of the witch that summoned him but Sasuke had wanted to keep it a secret for a bit longer.

He wasn't ashamed of Sakura but he didn't want his mother to make his time away something it wasn't and didn't want her to make any assumptions about his witch being a girl close to him in age.

Magical connection was what he and Sakura had, nothing more. And he wasn't going to entertain any fantasies of his mother's by feeding her any more information about the little witch that summoned him.

* * *

It was the third cauldron Sakura had blown up and Shizune had forbidden her from entering her workshop if she was planning on continuing to practice spells in such an enclosed area.

"That didn't used to happen…"

"You have a mana boost from another source," Kakashi explained from behind one of his books. He was supervising Sakura's clean up to make sure she did it the mundane way but he wasn't going to assist her. "You have great control but you're used to working with only your own power. It's time to adjust, kiddo."

He eyed the ash that Sakura dusted up and threw into a bin.

"And it's safe to assume that the little bocchama has an affinity for fire considering everything keeps bursting into flames if you're not paying enough attention." Kakashi stretched his arms above his head and then relaxed back into his armchair. "I hope there won't be any other surprises."

"We can check on that!" Sakura chirped excitedly and pulled blank pieces of parchment. She took out a piece of charcoal made from wood of an oak tree and copied down a few random glyphs.

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"It's perfectly safe." Sakura glared at him before turning back to her sheets of paper and chanted a spell from a text on mana.

The sheets of paper levitated and circled around her.

"If you blow something up I wasn't here."

Ignoring him Sakura touched the sheet that had the rune for air and watched it dissolve. She moved onto the sheet with the rune for water and nodded to herself when it remained levitating. She had always been able to perform spells with ease for that element as it was her affinity.

"Hell yeah!" Sakura cheered when the sheet of paper with the rune for lightning remained floating. When she had first done the affinity test it was a sheet that had dissolved.

Unsurprisingly the fire parchment had also remained floating. Kakashi's assumption was correct. What was surprising was the parchment that read "wood" remained floating as well. The first time she did the test the parchment had taken a while to dissolve giving her false hope but now it remained standing.

"Looks like whatever was blocking that affinity has opened up now that you have a familiar."

Sakura beamed. This was exactly what she had hoped would happen for her as a witch once she completed the summoning ritual. More affinities made spells easier to cast without forming seals or using other resources.

"Remember to finish cleaning up," Kakashi's lazy tone shook her out of her excitement. He was slinking away in his cat form, leaving her behind.

He was there in lieu of her teacher, a supervisor, not to revel in her growth. He wasn't _her_ familiar and sometimes she forgot that what little attention he offered her was all he could muster to care to give.

Sakura kicked at the ground and pouted before sighing and grabbing the broom and dust pan.

 _I'm sure Papa will be excited._

* * *

The rustling of wings had Sasuke closing his eyes and wishing he could vanish into thin air. He was sure Sakura knew a spell that could assist with that.

"I was going to find you eventually you know."

"Mother." Sasuke bowed his head slightly as he greeted Mikoto.

Mikoto's wings folded behind her and she tucked her skirt neatly underneath her as she took a seat by her son on his perch.

"It's so quiet here."

"Yes, that's how it's always been."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the way his mother smiled at him. There was a knowing gleam in her eyes that he wasn't fond of. It was the same look Itachi gave him.

"Our mountain has always been a relaxing and peaceful place." Mikoto tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear. "But it's a pretty lonely place when all you have around you are animals and old people."

"You're not old, mother."

"I wasn't speaking about me."

His mother pinched his ear in reprimand but rubbed the area to soothe it before letting go. She ran her hand down his wings, brushing her fingers down them and picking out loose, stray feathers.

"It's okay to miss her."

"I don't," Sasuke said more sharply than he intended.

His denial was quick and his face heated up at the lack of reaction from his mother. She just kept smiling at him in the way he was starting to hate more and more.

"I wish you guys would stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you all know some secret about me," Sasuke huffed, turning his back to his mother. He rest his head on the trunk of the tree and shut his eyes. No matter how much he tried to will her away with his mind, Mikoto wasn't going anywhere.

"If it helps, your father seems to be oblivious."

"When is he not?" Sasuke muttered. There was a smack to the back of his head and he knew he had upset his mother.

"You know he's preoccupied. He has a clan to lead."

"I _know_."

No one had to remind Sasuke of how busy his father was. Before he was summoned he shadowed his father, learning the responsibilities of a clan head.

A role that was never meant for him but was his future ever since Itachi was stripped of his title of heir.

A role that felt like shackles.

"I didn't come here to upset you, Sasuke." Mikoto stroked his hair. "I just wanted to let you know that whatever decision you come to, that it's okay. We'll always be your family and we'll always be home."

Mikoto sighed and stood up. She spread out her wings, ready to take flight again.

"Even if home just got a little bigger for you."

* * *

"Is it supposed to be like that?"

Sasuke watched as his older brother paused his brush strokes. Itachi looked up and looked outside to the courtyard where Shisui and Izumi were collecting herbs from the garden.

Shisui tucked a daisy behind Izumi's ear and she giggled. He held up another flower and she nodded her head enthusiastically. Shisui grinned and waved over to Itachi, gesturing for him to join them.

"I don't know." Itachi set his brush aside and rose to his feet. "But it's how I like it."

Sasuke watched his brother as he joined Shisui and Izumi. Shisui had handed the flower he held previously to Izumi. Itachi bowed his head so that she could reach his ear, and she tucked the jasmine behind it.

When Itachi had been with his original word weaver, he had always looked gaunt and sick to Sasuke. His older brother had always been a quiet person but he was even more withdrawn.

But now when he looked at his brother he was always glowing and although he was still quiet he spoke to him a lot more frequently.

Amongst the tengu to be wingless was shameful, to be as low as the dirt you were forced to always stand on.

But on Itachi, to be wingless looked a lot like freedom.

* * *

Sakura woke with a start, dumping her science textbook and scrolls onto the floor. She had fallen asleep sometime in the middle of reading. Whenever she got new books or scrolls she always dove right into them immediately, forgetting everything else around her.

Sasuke was right, she groaned inwardly. I have a problem.

Sakura stretched her arms and legs out, dumping more scrolls on to the floor. She started to kick her duvet and sheets out from under her so she could go back to sleep when there was a soft thump from the room next door.

 _I swear to God, if Llewelyn is fucking with me again, I'll stuff him in an unbreakable jar._

Her father's familiar had a habit of moving furniture around and hiding her belongings in strange places when he got bored.

It would be crossing the line if he decided to mess with Sasuke's room to prank her.

Even though Sasuke had gone back home, the Haruno family left the extra room where it was. Her parents referred to it as the guest room.

But to Sakura it would always be Sasuke's room.

 _Just because all he wanted was to go back home, it doesn't mean it's not_ his _room still,_ she reasoned to herself.

As quietly as possible in order to sneak up on Llewelyn she crept up to the bedroom door and yanked it open.

With one foot on the window sill and the other one ready to step into the bedroom, the winged figure couldn't have been Llewelyn. And if it was she was going to lock him in a trunk and keep him there for the next year.

"Sasuke?"

He looked just as surprised to see her as she did him but he cleared his throat and in a soft voice called out to her.

"Tadaima."

* * *

 **Day's Notes:** I hope you all enjoyed the update!


	3. Dinner Should Be Charming

Mornings were always loud. And early.

Grumbling, Sasuke pulled his duvet over his head and turned so that he was curled inward and facing the wall. He was never a fan of mornings but the Haruno household was always lively before the sun rose into the sky.

He had barely settled again when he heard his door creak open. A few seconds later there was a pressure on his mattress near his back.

"Sasuke?" Sakura whispered. She shook his shoulder gently. "Sasuke?"

"Can I just stay here today?" He groaned. Sakura giggled and shook his arm again. Sighing, he sat up and stretched, rolling his shoulders. "No one makes Kakashi wake up this early."

"He's a cat, Sasuke," Sakura deadpanned. "We're lucky he shows up at all."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her and yanked on his duvet. The force flipped her off of the bed but before he could lie back down and pull the blanket over his head it vanished into thin air. A moment later the bed was gone and he dropped on the floor, his backside slamming on the hardwood floor.

"You can have your bed back later. Lady Tsunade is arriving today so we have to make sure everything is prepared at the manor."

"She's finally coming back?" Sasuke scratched his head, ruffling his hair.

Sasuke had not seen the High Priestess of their coven since the day he was summoned. Sakura had told them there was an emergency and he had accepted that but after weeks had gone by and she had not returned he asked for the details of the emergency. At the time he was desperate to get back home and it was getting delayed due to the fact the most powerful witch couldn't help him because she was absent.

Lady Tsunade had been summoned by her husband, the High Priest of the Elder Coven, to take part of a council. The newly named Akatsuki coven was under investigation due to the death of their High Priest, Jiraiya.

"What was the verdict?" Sasuke had been curious about witch laws and attempted to read up on it but grew bored going through the thick, dusty tomes.

"They still have their mana sealed at the moment, but the council was forced to find them not guilty of murder. They were punished for the execution because they didn't call for the Elder Coven which they needed to do due to Jiraiya's status. It's within a coven's right to hold a trial within their own house without interference, but usually it's not a High Priest or Priestess that's on trial. Akatsuki had run their own investigation and trial and found Jiraiya guilty of crimes against his own coven so they burned him at the stake."

"What did he do?"

"He was molesting underage witches in the coven."

"Disgusting."

"Exactly."

* * *

Preparations for Tsunade's arrival mostly involved cleaning the manor and preparing her favorite dishes. Shizune went into a frenzy making sure every nook and cranny was free of dust. Kakashi had gone into hiding and had only been lured out by threat of castration which had Sasuke scurrying off to polish the floors before Shizune decided to carry out the threat to the others.

"The house is already clean, why are we doing all of this?" He was keeping an eye on Sakura as she levitated above him and dusted the chandelier in the foyer. If there was a chance of her falling Sasuke wanted to be ready to catch her.

"The Hebi Coven is coming for a visit." Sakura cut off her concentration and plummeted into Sasuke's waiting arms. She giggled as he scowled at her. "And High Priest Dan as well. It's been a while since he's been home."

"I'll let you fall next time," he warned, setting her down. Sakura rolled her eyes and collected the cleaning supplies from the floor. He said that every time she decided to free fall and yet he always kept an eye on her whenever she began floating.

"There's going to be members that are our age so that should be cool, right?"

"I don't like strangers," he grumbled, packing up his own cleaning supplies as well.

"They won't be strangers after you meet them," Sakura replied in a singsong, swinging her bucket around as she walked away.

"Don't be a smartass."

They were just finishing storing away all of the cleaning supplies and ready to call it a day when Kakashi rubbed his feline body against Sakura's ankles for attention. Sasuke snatched him by the scruff of his neck and threatened to toss him out one of the windows for the second time that week for being inappropriate.

"I was sent by Shizune!"

"What does Shizune-san want?" Sasuke held onto him but didn't pull him back inside. If Kakashi was lying he was ready to drop him.

"She needs you two to drop by the store and the bakery." Kakashi remained calm, knowing one wrong move and Sasuke would let go. He would survive the fall but it took more energy out of him than he liked.

"But that's so far away!" Sakura whined. "And then we would have to bring it all back?"

"She'll compensate you for the metro fare."

Sakura groaned but shuffled down the stairs. They could hear her grumbling all the way down.

"Are you going to let me back in?"

Sasuke looked back at him and cocked his head to the side. Sakura was really upset and she was right, it _was_ a lot of traveling going back and forth.

"No."

Kakashi yowled as he dropped to the ground and Sasuke locked up the window.

* * *

"We should just, teleport all of this junk to the manor."

Sakura pulled the foldable shopping trolley behind her. Sasuke held the door open for her and followed her into the bakery.

"Papa!" Sakura called out to her father as she passed by the rows of shelves loaded with different types of breads. "I need to place an order for a cake. And dango."

"Mundane or magical?" Kizashi asked from behind the counter.

"Mundane, _please_. I would rather not have to deal with a bunch of drunk witches and warlocks again."

As Sakura gave her father Shizune's order, Sasuke wandered around the shop. He knew the Haruno family owned a bakery, but with all of the time he spent at Senju Manor, he had never actually stepped foot inside.

 _Put a pep in your step! Try a ginger cookie today_ , Sasuke read one of the free sample cards in front of brown smiley face cookies. He walked slowly reading all of the descriptions. There was a cookie shaped like an o-mikuji with shō-kichi written on them. _Need a little luck? Try one of our tasty small blessing cookies!_

"I'm guessing something actually happens if these are eaten?" Sasuke asked Mebuki who was taking inventory.

"Yep! They're quite popular among both mundane and otherworldly customers." Mebuki grabbed the tray of smiley face cookie samples and urged him to try one.

"I don't like sweets," Sasuke reminded her. It was the downside of living with a family of bakers. There was always breads and sweets available to snack on but it wasn't something he enjoyed and he felt ungrateful whenever he declined their offers.

"Oh, good." Sakura appeared by his elbow and grabbed a sample. "I need one of these."

She popped it in her mouth and chewed, humming delightfully after she swallowed it. She rolled her shoulders and popped her joints.

"Oh, that feels a lot better." Sakura grabbed another cookie and handed it to him. "Trust me, you should have one."

What was the influence that she had over him that her mother didn't have only seconds before her? It was the same green eyes looking up at him, but Mebuki didn't have the cheeky grin or the giggle that punctuated her words.

Maybe it was the fact he was her familiar, but as soon as she was offering him the cookie he took it and gingerly took a bite from it.

"Too sweet." Sasuke wanted to gag but it would have been rude. It wasn't a bad tasting cookie, it was just too much sugar in his opinion. As soon as he swallowed, all of his previous fatigue vanished. It was as if he hadn't spent the entire day scrubbing floors and rearranging furniture.

"But it's working, huh?" Sakura had her hands clasped behind her back and she looked up at him expectantly.

"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke avoided answering and grabbed a basket. He filled it with treats that Shizune had requested and read all of the descriptions along the way. "Do humans really eat these? And they don't question the effects?"

"A lot of them think it's only because they believe in it enough," Sakura explained, dumping more lavender "calming" cookies into the basket than had been requested. "Trust me, we're going to need a lot of these this week."

"I'm going to have to develop a sweet tooth in order to deal with all of you witches. aren't I?" Sasuke looked down at the list Kakashi had handed them from Shizune and his brows furrowed in confusion. "What do maca cookies do and why is Kakashi asking us to get two dozen of them for Kato-san?"

Sakura snatched the list from his hand and crumpled it up, face flushing a vivid crimson. She grabbed the basket of cookies and had her mother ring her up.

"What do they━?"

"You don't need to know!"

* * *

Sasuke pulled his arm through his haori and smoothed the front, his fingers lingering over the uchiwa kamon that decorated the black fabric and then settled on the round himo knot. It felt ridiculous packing his kimono when he had no reason to wear them but just as always, his mother had proven that she knew best.

There was a soft knock on his door that could have only belonged to one member of the Haruno family.

"Come in."

Sakura opened the door a crack and slid in, exposing a pale leg with her movements. She was dressed in a black qipao dress with red and white feathers. Her hair was pulled into a low bun with a feather and rhinestone hairpin. The pattern paying homage to his winged form had him humming in appreciation.

"You look nice." Sakura beamed up at him, patting down the front of his haori. "Very formal."

"Do most events require formal attire?"

"No, we have meetings that require ceremonial robes but this is just a dinner party."

Sakura used her cell phone to call for a lift━"We should get you a phone and put you on our plan, Sasuke."━and they made their way to the manor. Kizashi gave them a package to deliver to High Priest Dan as an offering. Sasuke was going to have to learn about the politics of word weavers so he could properly understand the importance of Dan Kato.

" _Strongest? No, it was kind of an elected position,"_ Sakura had explained before when she told him about the trial. " _The strongest would be the Lady Tsunade, Lord Orochimaru, and the late Lord Jiraiya. Because they are all equal in strength neither one of them could lead the Elder Coven, so the position was appointed to a warlock they believed would be best for the job."_

"So how are they getting here? A portal?" Sasuke asked Kakashi as they waited in the foyer for their guests.

"No. Uber." Kakashi yawned and yanked at his collar. Shizune had him dressed in regular fit navy blue suit with a silver tie. It matched her high collar evening tea dress in the same shade of blue with silver buttons down the bust.

The two made a nice pair but Sasuke preferred the attention to detail that Sakura had in her attire. Even if it was only symbolic to those that knew his true nature, it pleased him a bit that she had represented him and an important trait of his instead of simply stuffing him in something similar to what she owned.

The doorbell rang at seven on the dot and Shizune welcomed their coven leader who entered on the arm of a man with long silver hair.

"Welcome home, Uncle Dan." Shizune embraced the man and stepped aside that the people following them could enter as well.

The Hebi Coven was greater in numbers than their own little coven, Sasuke noticed immediately. A person with snake like features entered the foyer with an entourage of twelve. It was no wonder Shizune had been stressed the past few days.

"Karin!" Sakura squealed when a petite girl with vivid red hair in a lavender short sleeved chiffon dress walked through the doorway.

"Please remember that my upper body strength is non existent!" The red haired girl shrieked as Sakura practically pounced on her, wrapping her arms around her neck.

"She's going to end up breaking you, Karin." A white haired boy in a matching button down shirt snickered, brushing past the two girls. Sasuke caught his eye and the boy's lips stretched out into a wide toothy smile. "Thank fuck, another guy."

"You're wearing my present." Karin daintily sniffed the air around Sakura, ignoring the adults that were heading to the dining room. "I wish I was here on your birthday but Kabuto dragged me out for a job."

Before Sasuke could ask, Karin whipped out a business card from thin air and handed it to him. In a curly font her name, Karin Uzumaki, was listed and underneath it read " _Founder Of All Things Lost"_ along with an email address and alternate instructions to drop lavender essential oil on the card for emergencies.

"Karin is an extremely gifted scryer," Sakura explained. Karin tossed her hair over her shoulder and beamed at the praise. "Most witches need a medium like crystals or a mirror, but Karin can use the back of her eyelids. And she doesn't just get flashes but detailed images."

"I'm better than most oracles," Karin bragged, adjusting her glasses on the bridge of her nose. The white haired boy stood at her elbow and coughed into his fist. "Oh, and this is Suigetsu. He's talented at leaving puddles everywhere he sits."

"We just met the guy and you're already insulting me in front of him?"

"He's my familiar." Karin sighed and rolled her eyes. "We've been together almost a year now."

"But not actually together, Sakura." Suigetsu flashed her a flirty grin and waggled his eyebrows. The sight of his pointed teeth had Sasuke pulling Sakura back in case the teen decided he wanted to take a bite of her.

At least that's what he told himself was the reason.

"And 'cause he's a male selkie he's an incorrigible flirt."

"Children," a silky voice called out to them. "The adults are waiting."

The owner of the voice was none other than the person with the slits for pupils and long black hair that matched the silkiness of their voice. The smile they gave Sasuke made the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

"Ah, a tengu. You don't really see them in this realm anymore." They looked Sasuke up and down before turning their attention to Sakura, their smile even more alarming than a second ago. "Very impressive, Miss Haruno. Who knew you had it in you to summon such a creature into your possession."

"He's not a thing, Lord Orochimaru," Sakura muttered, averting her gaze. She tugged on Sasuke's hand and lead him to a pair of seats as far away as possible from where Orochimaru's place card sat.

It wasn't until Karin gave him a strange probing look from his face to their joined hands that he reminded Sakura that he needed both hands for dinner.

"Sorry," Sakura whispered as he gave thanks for the meal. He peered at her from the corner of his eye and noticed her gaze was directed at the head of the table where the elders sat.

The apology had nothing to do with the hand holding. There was no doubt that she was thinking about the weeks after she had summoned him and his feelings about the whole event.

"Don't worry about it," he muttered back, leaning over to whisper it in her ear so none of the guests could hear him.

Dinner was an odd affair. Sasuke was used to large gatherings—even larger ones with his clan—but these were strangers. There was no one he could talk with and he already made an enemy out of one of the Hebi witches by securing a stick of dango for Sakura before the witch absconded with the whole tray.

If it weren't a formal dinner setting he was sure she would have hexed him. Unsettling smiles seemed to be a trademark of the Hebi coven.

"I'm glad we're going back home and don't have to deal with all of these people," Sakura grumbled as she helped clear the dining room. She moved slowly without magic to stall having to meet everyone in the den for a nightcap. "I definitely don't wanna be around when Anko gets a few drinks in her. Last time she holed up in Shizune's room the whole week and she and Kakashi butted heads for her attention."

"I wouldn't mind joining them. I'm eighteen now." Suigetsu chuckled before Karin hit him with a closed fist to the back of his head. His head burst into a splash of water upon contact.

"No, orgies aren't a witch thing," Sakura answered Sasuke's unasked question. She rolled her eyes at the look of disgust he had. "Anko and Kakashi are just like that."

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Hm?" Sakura lifted her arms and waved her hands through some motions and the dishes started cleaning themselves. "Oh. I don't know. I just thought that might be what you would ask."

Sasuke crossed his arms and watched as she pointed at the dishes and they loaded themselves into the dishwasher and she grabbed glass containers to store what remained of dinner.

"I'm not reading your mind, Sasuke." Sakura glared at him and placed the containers in the refrigerator. She flinched when she shut the door a little harder than she should have.

"Well that doesn't help your case."

"No, you're just predictable."

With a final wave of her hand the tea cups arranged themselves on two trays and she grabbed the teapot. Placing her hand on the pot, the spot she touched glowed red and the pot whistled.

"Help me with this, please? After we give them their tea we can go home. I don't like how Lord Orochimaru was looking at you. They're usually creepy but tonight's definitely been the creepiest they've been."

Sasuke was glad he wasn't the only one that thought the High Priest had behaved strangely. It was already strange that they knew immediately what Sasuke was, even in his wingless form.

"You're probably too young to know, but has Orochimaru ever had a tengu familiar?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. Their familiar has always been a basilisk named Manda. It's why they call the coven he leads Hebi." Sakura shivered and hugged herself. "I've only seen him once and just, never again."

If what Sasuke had heard about basilisks was true, Sakura was very lucky she was still alive after an encounter with one. He could only assume that Orochimaru was a very powerful warlock to be able to contain a great snake and keep it from eating every human it came across.

That is if Orochimaru even bothered to keep his familiar from eating.

There was a chance the tengu Orochimaru had mentioned seeing in the mundane realm was Itachi. And if that was whom Orochimaru was referring to, it meant they knew who Itachi's former warlock was.

And Sasuke was going to find out exactly who that warlock was.

* * *

Day's Notes: I ended up making this a multichapter fic. I'm updating at this time for Naruto Magic Week. Hope you guys all enjoyed the chapter.


	4. New Arrivals

**Chapter Four: New Arrivals**

* * *

Everything about the mundane world was loud and bright.

Sasuke exhaled through his nose harshly and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He decided right then and there that he didn't like malls.

"Dude. You have got to relax." Suigetsu's voice was thick from the frozen treat he kept stuffing into his mouth. "Get some froyo."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and went back to his current task: keeping an eye on Sakura. She had dragged him to the mall with Karin and Suigetsu because, in her opinion, he needed to get out more.

With the exclusion of Karin and her familiar, the Hebi coven had returned home a few days after the dinner party. Their High Priest, Orochimaru, had made themself scarce after the dinner, only spending time in their hotel suite or with Lady Tsunade and Dan. Even if Sasuke had the chance to speak with them, he had no real plan beyond blunt questioning to get the answers he seeked.

Out of the corner of his eye Sasuke caught Suigetsu inching closer to a trio of girls chatting away. He reached over and grabbed him by the back of the collar of his shirt and pulled him back. As much as he didn't care what the man did, Sasuke did care about minimizing Sakura's stress. If Suigetsu tried anything, Karin would get pissed off and she had a short fuse that had her beating Suigetsu and triggering his liquefying abilities.

"You're such a killjoy," Suigetsu muttered.

Ignoring him, Sasuke turned his attention to Sakura who finally exited the body care store she and Karin had spent the past hour inside of. Karin thrust her bag at Suigetsu's chest and hooked her arm with Sakura's.

"I'm not your gopher."

"I am literally feeding you today so make yourself useful and just carry the bags."

Blocking out the sounds of their bickering he gave Sakura a look and she interpreted it correctly when she told him they had one last stop and then they could go home.

"You need a cellphone if you're going to be living here." Sakura grabbed onto his hand and led him towards a store that, fortunately, was clear of people. The shop's walls were lined with display cases holding cellular devices.

"I have my summons for messages. I don't need a phone." Sasuke paused and looked at their hands, fingers laced together, comfortable and warm. "And you don't have to pull."

Shaking her head, Sakura insisted that he needed a cell phone. She explained that they were more practical and pushed him away from the cheaper flip phones. He just needed a phone to make or receive calls but Sakura scoffed and found him the same model phone that she had.

"A smartphone is what you need." She balled her hands into fists and planted them at her hips. "It has apps for navigation and stuff which you need."

"I have summons for most of that."

Sakura scoffed, blowing her bangs out of her face in frustration. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and narrowed her eyes up at him. "You're being difficult. You need a phone and I'm getting you one. Think of it as an early birthday present."

"Don't remind me," Sasuke muttered as Sakura ran off to speak to one of the sales associates.

Usually his birthday was a big affair for the clan. It was one of the days where the focus was all on him and it made his skin itch when all of those eyes were on him. He wouldn't be returning home for his eighteenth birthday and he had hoped his role as a familiar would be enough of an excuse.

His mother had been upset and her hawk summon nipped at his ear when she had brought Mikoto's message to him. The letter was lengthy as all of her letters were and its contents had put him on edge.

A member of his retainer would be joining him in the mundane realm and Sasuke knew, he just _knew_ , who exactly would be sent to him. He had barely read his cousin's name when his mother's hawk vanished into air before he could send her a reply.

He attempted to send messages using his own hawks but no answer returned until his father sent one of his crows demanding that he stop his foolishness.

In the mundane realm with Sakura, despite not being human, he was just an average teenager but there were times he was reminded that he was exactly what Kakashi sarcastically called him: a young master.

"We should lounge around the pool later," Karin suggested, reattaching herself to Sakura's side. Sasuke's head throbbed every time she wrapped her thin arms around Sakura and pulled her away from him. "Luckily I brought my swimsuit. I need to work on my tan before we have to go back to our stupid underground base."

He wondered if it was a familiar thing to feel so attached. His brother at one point had an unhealthy devotion to his warlock and now, although it wasn't toxic, his affection for his witch and her familiar was so strong that at times it felt as if his covenant was all that mattered in the universe.

"You're all bones." Suigetsu mockingly gagged. "No one wants to see that."

"Shut up, Suigetsu!" She rammed her fist against his shoulder and Suigetsu had to force himself not to let the limb burst into a splash of water.

Even with Sasuke's limited experience with familiars, Suigetsu was a welcome exception to the rule. He was still Karin's partner but he antagonized her at every turn. Whatever force that bound them together couldn't force affection.

Sighing, he flexed his fingers on the hand that held Sakura's only moments ago. It would have been a lot easier if he could just blame the covenant for whatever it was that caused the flutterings in his stomach.

* * *

Sakura shifted her gaze from Sasuke's scowl and back to the tall stranger with the toothy smile. They had been staring at each other for the past ten minutes and she had to wonder if the man's face was hurting from all of the smiling.

"Go home," Sasuke finally snapped. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at the man that introduced himself as his cousin.

"You know I can't do that," Obito practically sang.

Sakura and Sasuke had entered Tsunade's manor for a day of lessons only to be met with an exasperated Shizune waiting for them in the foyer. She led them to the conservatory where a tall man dressed in navy blue hakama pants with a long nosed goblin mask on his head was perched on the back of one of the couches. His large black wings were folded behind his back.

They were pitch black like his and Sasuke's hair and extremely different from Sasuke's wings. Sasuke's wings were a lovely chestnut color, speckled with white and black and lined with silver.

Sakura suddenly felt bad for not knowing more about tengu and Sasuke's family. She had no idea why their wings were so vastly different and if that was significant of anything.

"You're not staying."

"That's not up to you Sasuke-bocchama."

Kakashi burst into a fit of laughter from his seat in one of the wicker armchairs. "I was kidding but you really are a little master, huh?"

Obito turned his grin towards Kakashi. "He's the next head of the Uchiha clan."

"This is fucking hilarious," Suigetsu said thickly. Sasuke scrunched up his nose in disgust. Why was he always eating or drinking something?

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Sasuke snapped at him. This whole situation was testing his patience.

Suigetsu shrugged. "Not really."

Ignoring him, Sasuke turned his attention back to his cousin. "Why are you here? I've been fine on my own."

"Be glad it's just me." Obito held up his hands in defense. "It could have been all of us."

"All?" Sakura interjected, confused.

"My personal retainer is made up of seven of my clansmen, including Shisui whom you've met." Sasuke's voice took on a sharper tone when he redirected his attention back to Obito. "We don't have room for you."

Obito raised a brow at him and then gestures to the manor. "No room? In this giant house?"

"Sasuke, doesn't live in the manor," Shizune explained. "Sakura lives in her family home and commutes for her lessons."

The grin slid off of Obito's face and his jaw dropped as he shifted between looking at Sasuke and Sakura and back. Sakura looked over at Sasuke with concern when he groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Don't even think about—"

"You're shacking up with your word weaver!"

Sakura and Sasuke instantly began protesting over the sounds of Suigetsu's guffaws.

"Man," he swirled his spoon in his bowl of cereal, "Karin picked the wrong day to go to the spa."

* * *

Sasuke barely looked up from Sakura's book on arithmancy when he heard her murmur. She had fallen asleep during their tutoring session, her head falling against his upper arm.

It had been a long day for the both of them with the arrival of his cousin. It had been absolutely embarrassing to have to explain to him his living situation in front of not only Kakashi and Shizune but Suigetsu as well which meant Karin would know exactly what had happened even if Sakura didn't tell her.

In the end, Obito was given a room in the manor. Sasuke spent most of his time there anyway so it was the best decision. He didn't want the Haruno family to have to deal with yet another guest in their home and to have to deal with yet another extension charm to house Obito.

The manor was large enough and had enough rooms that Obito wouldn't be noticed if he kept to himself.

" _It's not just a house,"_ Sakura had explained to him before their study session. " _It's the Senju School for the Healing Arts. It operates like a boarding school like most academies, but most of our students are temporary. The healing arts are extremely difficult to master and most witches choose not to learn them unless they are trying to rise in ranks. Shizune and I are the only witches that have been the true students of the school and that have entered the coven."_

" _Is that why the Hebi coven is much larger?"_

" _Yes. Lord Orochimaru can be just as discriminant as Lady Tsunade but our numbers are much smaller because not everyone can perform the advanced healing arts. Even with a familiar, the control and concentration required make the spells nearly impossible to cast."_

" _But you were taken as a student before you summoned me."_ Sasuke watched as the corners of Sakura's lips curled upwards. " _And you were already casting spells for it?"_

" _Any other Elder would have seen my blood status and turned me away before even trying to test my control over my mana, just send me off to another academy."_ Sakura had scowled before it melted into a proud smile. " _Not Lady Tsunade. She saw how much I wanted it and let me join her school and then eventually, her coven."_

Sakura was lucky enough to live in the same city as the Senju School. She told him that Tsunade saw no reason why an underage witch shouldn't have the comfort of living with their family. At the moment she was seventeen and even though that made her an adult amongst word weavers, she was still a minor in the mundane world.

She had also explained that in the region they lived in he would be officially an adult without the perk of being able to legally obtain alcohol. Sasuke had rolled his eyes at her and said, "what's the point of being an adult then?"

Moving carefully as to not wake her up, Sasuke grabbed his new phone and opened up the application for the Internet. Sakura had helped him set everything up and showed him how to use Google to search for things.

Sasuke was tempted to let his brother know that he had a cell phone now. Itachi didn't have a phone but he knew that Izumi did, even though she couldn't use it anywhere near their mountain and valley. She had to travel a distance and find other settlements before she could send a text or make a call. But perhaps now that he had his own phone his family could be convinced to deal with a cellphone tower. Sakura could probably fix up his phone to work across realms.

But then again, would he be able to deal with his family calling every day? Sasuke shivered, thinking about how he would be hounded every day.

Sakura shifted and Sasuke stilled, body tensing. She had gotten more comfortable in her sleep and had curled her arm around his, cradling his arm against her chest.

It was fine that she wanted to speak to him late at night. It was fine when she sat with him on his bed, close enough for their knees to touch. It wasn't new that Sakura would study until she fell asleep reading, but this was an intimacy that Sasuke couldn't afford.

Her lashes fluttered and she sighed in her sleep as she nuzzled her head against his shoulder. Sasuke had to wake her up. Sleeping in his bed couldn't become a habit.

There was a level of comfort between them that the Sasuke of four months ago would have been repulsed by. He had loathed word weavers and now he was letting one cuddle with him in his bed.

It was far from proper what they were doing, but he at least knew that his cousin Obito wouldn't rat him out to anyone else. The younger generation didn't flaunt it but they didn't care for propriety the way the older generation did.

And he could always blackmail Obito into silence. He had a lot on his older cousin he could use.

Nudging gently with his shoulder, Sasuke attempted to wake Sakura up. "Sakura." he reached over and pinched her cheek. "Sakura."

"No," she whined and held onto his arm tighter. "Warm."

"I need my arm back and you need to go to your own room."

"Spoilsport," Sakura grumbled but loosened her hold. She blinked dazedly at him and stretched her arms over her head. "I was very comfortable. You should have just carried me to bed."

A rush of heat crawled up Sasuke's neck. "You're heavy."

Sakura blew a raspberry at him. "I am not," she replied hotly, more alert. "You catch me without breaking a sweat."

"That's due to bursts of adrenaline to save your dumbass before you break something." Sasuke jabbed at her forehead with his index finger. "Now go to sleep."

"That's what I was doing."

"In your own bed. Or do you want them to make more comments about our living situation?"

Sakura scrambled off of his bed, cheeks flushed a hot pink color. "Okay, you're right. I'm off to bed."She gathered her tome and sheets of paper and bid him goodnight.

As soon as Sakura was out and shut the door behind her, Sasuke flopped backwards onto his bed with a sigh. The warmth of both of their bodies and Sakura's scent lingered on his duvet.

* * *

"You're pretty good at this." Sakura nodded with approval as Sasuke trapped Obito's pieces on the shogi board. "If Temari visits us, you could probably challenge Shikamaru a little."

"God I hate playing with him," Karin grumbled. "I think I've only won, like, once when we were fifteen."

It was the day before Karin and Suigetsu were due to return back to the Hebi coven's base and the teenagers just wanted to lounge in the conservatory. Sakura and Karin had collected plants for her to take back home and Sakura had used it as a chance to give Sasuke a lesson on "green" magic.

At some point they decided to take a break and Obito had brought out a shogi board. The man was happy-go-lucky so Sakura hadn't expected him to be ruthless when it came to his challenges. She would have to message Temari and tell her she found her familiar some competition.

"Hello," Kakashi greeted, slinking into the conservatory in his cat form and curling himself on Suigetsu's lap. Suigetsu immediately started scratching the back of Kakashi's ear without missing a beat in stuffing popcorn in his mouth. "If I were you all, I would steer clear of Lady Tsunade and Shizune today."

"Uh..." Sakura blinked owlishly. "Why?"

"Because━" an explosion went off in the distance, interrupting him. "That's why."

"That wasn't an explanation!" Sakura snapped at him. "Should we go check on that?"

"Trust me," Kakashi drawled, stretching his paws and getting more comfortable, "you would rather not."

Sakura opened her mouth to retort but closed it when Karin placed her hand on her shoulder in a comforting matter. She tapped her glasses with her index finger and then shut them. Sakura watched Karin scrunch up her face and then scoff.

"Great," Karin opened her eyes and rolled them, "another visitor and I'm going to miss all of the drama."

Sasuke perked up at the mention of another visitor. When the Hebi coven had come to visit, Shizune had stressed out preparing for the visit a whole week. She had just spoken to all of them an hour earlier and hadn't mentioned that they were expecting anyone to come the manor.

"Are we—?" Suigetsu asked but was cut off by Sakura.

"Let's go see who it is!" She squealed and jumped up from her seat, obviously excited. "Maybe it's a new student. I could have an underclassmen."

"It's an upperclassmen," Kakashi burst her bubble. She pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Actually, the last time he was a student here, you weren't even born yet."

"Who is it?" Sakura turned to ask Karin whom had her eyes closed again and had her face pinched in concentration.

"Red hair. Tiny as hell. Like smaller than me probably—"

"Not possible," Suigetsu deadpanned. "Are you really scrying right now? You just described yourself."

"And a blond. Long hair. And fire?" Karin opened her eyes. "Lots of fire."

There was another explosion and the fire alarm rang and Shizune burst into the conservatory. She picked up Kakashi by his neck and shook him.

"You were supposed to entertain Deidara!"

"Do you know how bad burnt fur smells?" Kakashi squirmed in her hold, shifting back into his human form.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Sasuke caught Sakura's eye and the two of them took off down the hall, looking for the new arrivals. Karin chased after them, huffing.

"Upstairs!" She shouted and they stormed up one of the twin staircases that led from the foyer to the second floor. "Down the hall in the office."

The three of them skidded to a stop as the door to Lady Tsunade's office opened inwardly and the High Priestess stepped out glaring at all of them. She raised her hand up and Sasuke felt all of his muscles tense up. He attempted to move but his body wouldn't respond.

She had frozen them.

"Why are you running in my house?" She glared at all three of them before her gaze landed on Sakura, demanding an answer from her.

"We heard an explosion."

"That happened in the front hall, not my office." Tsunade turned her attention to Karin. "You dare to spy into my private office, Uzumaki?"

Tsunade flicked her on the forehead and Karin broke out of the enchantment that had her frozen and clutched her forehead.

"Ow!"

"And you." Tsunade shifted her focus on Sasuke, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "I didn't take you for the nosy type. That's kind of interesting."

Sasuke scowled, heat rising to his cheeks. Tsunade was only a few years older than his father and when she looked at him with that expression it felt like he was being scolded by a parent. It made him feel like a child and reflecting on his behavior he had been acting pretty childish.

As embarrassing as the slip was, it was also a little liberating.

"Lady Tsunade?"

The three teens turned to face the stranger that just stepped out of the office. A man of about Karin's height with red brown hair in a slim fit all black suit stared impassively at them. Right behind him followed a slightly taller, androgynous teenager with long blond hair, a mischievous smirk gracing his face. Unlike his companion, he was dressed more casually in a singed cropped top and jeans that were ripped at the knees.

"Children." Sasuke scoffed, which earned him another glare from Tsunade. "This is Sasori of the Akatsuki coven. He and his familiar will be staying with us as he trains to take up the post of High Priest for his coven."

Sasori gave them a bow, it was only a slight inclination of his head but Sasuke found himself returning it.

"And that is Deidara or as I will now be referring to him as 'the reason we will be reviewing fire safety.'"

"'Sup." Deidara nodded upwards at them, sticking his chin up.

"He's around your age—well, close enough since he's barely twenty—so I hope you all will get along." Tsunade looked exhausted just from introducing him. "Hopefully now that he has peers in his age group to hang out with, my house has a greater chance of not being destroyed. Again."

 _Again?_ Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the hand Deidara offered to Sakura in greeting. Smoke rose from his palms.

"I make no promises," Deidara chirped.

Before Sakura could return the gesture, Sasuke grasped his hand and shook it, extinguishing the sparks Deidara was releasing as he tightened his grip. The shorter familiar's face twisted into a pout as he realized his prank had been prevented. Sasuke squeezed his hand one more time in warning before letting go.

He was going to have to ask Sakura if there were any spells to fireproof an entire building.

* * *

 **Day's Notes:** Momyr on twitter made a beautiful fanart for this fic and I just needed to update this fic. You should check it out! You can find it in my likes on twitter. My handle is pain_somnia.

Updating this earlier than I usually would when I post publicly but it's my birthday so why not share it? lol


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